3 month letter to Amelia

Dear Amelia,

I can't belive you turned three months old last week! We celebrated your first Thanksgiving, and have so much to be thankful for. You are growing and changing every day - I just had to pack up some of your 0-3 month clothes and get out the 3-6 month boxes. You smile and laugh all the time, and you "talk" whenever you get the chance, especially in the morning. You have found your hands and they are always in your mouth - you try to get both of them in there at once sometimes!

In the past week or so you have become more of a binky baby and need one to calm you down when you are sleepy. You still get up once during the night most nights, but that's ok. I know we will have to move you to your own room soon, and I will miss having you right beside me.

Christmas is coming and so is the day we found out you were going to change our lives forever (Dec. 16). You were the greatest gift we could have gotten, and we love you so much!

Love, Mom

My little turkey at 3 months

You know you're a mom when...

There are always descriptions of heartfelt, touching moments where women "knew they were a mom." Looking at their babies' faces as they sleep, holding them for the first time...all of these are fine and good, but I have compiled a list of personal experiences that have let me know I've truly entered the world of mommyhood.

You know you're a mom when...

...you dig boogers out of your child's nose with your pinky nail, and then wait for the child to fall asleep before you get up to dispose of said boogs on a tissue. What? It's just baby snot...

...you fall asleep sitting up with a baby attached to your boob (granted, we are formula feeding now, but this happened a LOT in those first few weeks).

...you get spit up in your hair and just rinse it out in the sink.

...you can perform the following tasks with one hand: making a sandwich, eating the sandwich, making coffee, preparing a bottle, putting clothes away in a drawer, feeding the cat, retrieving mail, putting on socks, changing batteries in the baby swing. Bonus points: texting/emailing with one thumb.

...you automatically wake up when your child has slept for more than four hours because you realize you've been sleeping too long and obviously something must be wrong.

...you manage not to wreck your car as you reach into the back seat to stick a lost pacifier in your screaming child's mouth.

...you somehow juggle a carseat, diaper bag, purse, bag of bottles and your lunchbag in one trip to/from the car.

There you have it. I've officially been initiated into mommyhood - no turning back now! Other mommies - what have been your "Yup, I'm a mom" moments?

Happy November!

Seriously? November already? How did that happen?!?

I am such a bad blogger these days. The fact is that I feel there isn't anything terribly fascinating going on in my life and I feel like I may bore you all with updates about my darling baby. I mean, I find her amazing and cute, but maybe you will get sick of looking at pictures of her. No? Ok.

Well then here you go.

At her two-month check up, Amelia weighed 11 lbs even (50th percentile) and 23 inches (70th percentile). Here she is on her two month "birthday". (Coincidentally also my sister's 25th birthday.)

And here she is as a banana for Halloween (my niece was a monkey). Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic.

So what's new with us? I am back at work (did I already tell you that? I have no idea.) I am working four ten-hour days in an attempt to save on gas/babysitting expenses and in order to spend a day with my munchkin on Fridays. Most days I do ok, but by the time I get home there is little time to do anything but eat, get her bag ready for the next day, feed her a bottle and get us both to bed. It gets a little exhausting. And by "a little exhausting" I mean I actually fell asleep at my desk yesterday. Whoops.

There are days I miss her terribly and feel like I am missing out on her life, knowing she is now spending more time with the babysitter than she is with us. That's a hard pill to swallow. Yesterday she brought home "crafts" - a plastic bag ghost that she "helped" make by crumpling newspaper, and a little pumpkin frame magnet with her picture in it (ok, one more gratuitous baby pic - this is what she had on for Halloween)

But I digress. I was talking about missing out on special things with her. I feel like I should be the one to do her first craft with her. I am her mom after all. I just have to keep telling myself that if I didn't work, we wouldn't have a nice house for her to grow up in. Or food. Food is important. (Though we haven't been to the grocery in a few weeks so...there's not a lot going on in our fridge and cupboards these days.) So every night I try to cuddle up with her as much as possible, even if she is having no part of it.

She actually slept all night for three nights (yay!) but then we regressed into getting up at 3am to eat (boo!). C helps now by alternating nights with me but I still hear them get up so it's not like I get extra sleep.

Hmm...what else...I don't know. Everyone else's blogs are always full of fun giveaways and quirky themes and challenges, and I'm sorry to say all you've got is me and my poor exhausted mommy brain! Maybe someday I will get creative again!